I’m not exactly sure when it happened. My pal and I had gone out for one of our regular runs. He tends to run much faster than I can. But suddenly he pulled up and began to limp. I don’t know if he twisted his leg on a stone or a pothole or what. But we were soon at the hospital where I got the word.
“Looks like a torn ligament,” the doctor said. “May need surgical treatment.”
“Really?” I was incredulous.
Did I mention that the doctor was veterinarian or that my running mate was my springer spaniel, Jazz. No. I missed that part, I guess partly because I’ve never heard of this kind of an injury in a dog, let alone in a youngster. Jazz is just two years old. So, I immediately took him to a veterinary clinic. The vet recommended pain killers, maybe an X-ray and keeping Jazz immobile for a while. A springer spaniel, immobile?
Anyway, perhaps more surprising than the immediate treatment, I was stunned to learn the top three most frequent injuries suffered by dogs. Number three is foreign body ingestion. Number two is lameness. And number one is rupture of the cruciate ligament in the knee. Well, we can attest to the foreign body ingestion.
In two years of life in our household, Jazz has consumed most of a large chocolate bar, socks from my laundry basket, corners of several towels and at least one kitchen dishcloth. The latter required a pharmaceutically induced regurgitation to ensure we retrieved all of it. Stealing and scarfing down bits of household items was not a surprise. But the ligament tear statistic stunned me.
When I researched the subject online, I read the dossiers of several veterinary specialists. Most of the Canadian and American surgeons indicated they have done as many as 1,500 or 2,000 surgeries to repair torn ligaments in dogs. I also learned that there are several different surgical approaches to repair the damage. One approach has the surgeon place an artificial ligament outside the join capsule of the knee; it’s called the “extracapsular repair and tightrope procedure.”
And a more recent treatment called “tibial plateau levelling osteotomy” (TPLO) involves cutting away a portion of the top of the tibia bone, rotating it, installing a bone plate that realigns the dog’s tibia and femur bones and that presumably allows normal knee-joint movement. Out of curiosity, I called friends who are longtime dog owners.
“Ours has had both back legs treated,” one told me.
“Be prepared for a shock to your bank account,” another said.
In the course of my research, I discovered the price charged by veterinary surgeons and hospitals ranges between $1,000 and $6,000. I was honestly stunned by the news. But then I guess in Canada we are somewhat shielded from knowing the actual costs of human health care thanks to universal medicare.
When was the last time you checked the cost of having a cast put on your broken arm, or cancer treatment drugs, or a night spent recovering in a hospital room? At any rate, I was fortunate to get Jazz into the Toronto Veterinary Emergency Hospital where a doctor completed a TPLO surgical procedure.
But that’s when the real work toward Jazz’s recovery began. I started a strict diet of anti-inflammatory, tranquilizing and antibiotic drugs. I had to apply cold compresses and do regular massages to reduce the swelling. As well, I’ve had to keep Jazz in an Elizabethan collar (cone around his head) to prevent him from licking the incision. But toughest of all, I’ve had to restrict a springer spaniel from doing what is natural – running, jumping, fetching and playing – canine tough love, I guess.
I am not complaining. It’s a First World problem and I feel fortunate to have the chance and tools to help Jazz get back to near-normal life.
By the way, after I researched the most common injuries suffered by dogs, out of curiosity, I checked the most common injuries suffered by dog walkers. Here’s what the Harvard Medical School has learned from a study published by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in April 2023.
“Being a dog owner has many health benefits, like unconditional love, companionship and increased physical activity,” the study document begins. “But (the study) tied dog walking to a sharp rise in injuries among people holding the leash. … Dog walkers most commonly suffered broken fingers, traumatic brain injuries (from falls), as well as shoulder and knee sprains.”
So, be careful running with your canine pal. The next cruciate ligament that gets torn may well be yours!
